Fun With Claws

In Kung Fu there are claw techniques throughout the forms. I personally enjoy mixing claw techniques into my fighting to give some variety. I have a few notes for those that are looking to introduce claw techniques to their fighting.

1. I always say that there are no wrong techniques. If you can visualize an application and then go execute it, who can say it is wrong? There may be reasons that make a technique ill advised but that is not a reason to stop using it until someone proves that they can stop it. Try different angles, different variations and different ways of using your claws to see what works for you.
   
2. A claw can be used as a scratch. You can use the scratch to attack the eyes, face, or exposed tissue.
3. A claw can also be used as a strike where you use your palm as the striking surface.
4. A claw can be used as a grab. You can grab the throat, wrists or muscles/tendons of your opponent.
5. You can combine the techniques above. An example would be striking with your palm to an opponent's nose and in a continuous motion downward scratching the opponent's face until you are under the chin at which point you grab the throat.
6. When executing a claw technique, bend your hands back and grip your fingers tightly to avoid injury from bending a finger or wrist backwards.
   
7. Claws can be used as blocks (or block and grab).
8. Claws can be used as traps such as in the Chum Jaang technique in Fut Gar Kung Fu.
9. Claws can be used to go around a defense as you bend your wrist around it.

All in all claws are a lot of fun to try and incorporate into your training. Of course some of my suggestions should not be used in class unless your class is too large and you need to get rid of some students.

Master Chen is Back in Town

Master Chen Rong En, head of the Fut Gar style of Kung Fu is back in town. The newer students may wonder what to do when he visits the class (which you can expect him to do very regularly) as it can be an intimidating thing to have him watching what you are doing. As one of his closed door students, I have had quite a bit of experience with him watching me as I train and have probably forgotten that I should actually feel some sort nervousness when performing in front of him...of course I never have been one to be nervous performing no matter who is watching. For those that don't know exactly what to do when he is visiting, here are a few tips:

1. Bow to him as he comes in to show your respect.
   
2. Do the best you can without fear that you are not good enough...he loves our class and wants us to be successful in our training.
3. Be prepared to learn as he will stop you if he sees a mistake.
4. If we decide to run additional seminars, participate if at all possible. Master Chen is one of the most respected instructors around and there are few opportunities to learn directly from him. We are very fortunate to be a school that he visits regularly.
5. Enjoy his love of teaching theories. I have never met anyone else who gets so much joy out of discussing techniques, how they work, how to counter them and how to lead into them.
   

The next 6 months should be filled with many chances to do all of these things. Although I have been teaching Kung Fu for over 20 years now you will definitely see that I am still not done learning from the master.

Seriously Disappointed in Some Instructor

The students in my class probably heard me speaking of some disappointing activities at a recent tournament. Although nobody from my school competed, we did have one person present as a judge who reported back that one school was performing one of our forms. Not only were they performing it, but they were performing it poorly. The school that is now performing Black Dragon Sword should be ashamed of themselves and their instructor has shown that they have no real grasp of what it means to be an instructor or martial artist.

We would like to give the benefit of the doubt that it is possible that they learned it just as I did but unfortunately I know this is impossible. The only other people who had the opportunity to learn this form are in New York and the version they do is slightly different so unless Grandmaster Chan Tai San came back from the dead to teach these "martial artists" I am going to have to say that it was stolen. It is definitely tempting to take videos of my students as they win gold medals at the national championship and try to replicate but in my 20+ years of teaching, I have never seen a school desperate enough to do it.

I will not mention the school but I have seen them perform and I totally understand why they would need to steal as what they have is not impressive. What they do could be impressive if done properly but the instructor is not equipped to teach the class to be what they need to be. Unfortunately there are no barriers on who becomes a Kung Fu instructor and in Canada we do not have old school masters who will come tear down your school and issue a challenge to those that do not belong so this type of school is allowed to continue.

My last word to this school. Focus on being good at your own style and making your ancestors proud instead of feeling the need to steal from other styles. If you are not capable of getting good at your style because you were not raised in a proper martial arts background, I am sure I can recommend an instructor that would be happy to teach you...you might even become decent at a kung fu style.